Qatar Airways’ plans hit by Dreamliner grounding

Qatar Airways is to launch passenger flights to Chicago with a reduced schedule from April 10th.

Originally planned to be daily, the non-stop Doha–Chicago route will now be operated three-times-a-week due to the ongoing problems with the Boeing Dreamliner.

The route will rise to its planned daily service from June 15th.

Chicago will be the airline’s fourth US gateway.

In addition, scheduled flights between Doha and Chengdu, the carrier’s sixth point in China, were due to start with three-flights-a-week from March 19th, but the route launch has been postponed to a later date.

Qatar Airways’ corporate planners have been actively working on adjusting capacity on routes across its network as a result of the grounding of its Boeing 787s which has impacted operations.

Passengers booked on the affected flights are being contacted by Qatar Airways and rebooked on alternative flights and routings.

Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said: “We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience of the capacity adjustments caused by the grounding of the 787s, which is out of our hands.

“We are making every effort to ensure our valued customers are aware of these service updates and are accommodated accordingly.”